A Review of the 1990 Season
With the First Eleven losing four of their five pre-League friendlies it looked like we were to be in for a long hard summer. However this early cloud had a silver lining as under skipper Richard Alston, Chingford embarked on a run of three straight victories with Hadleigh and Thundersley, Walthamstow and eventual Champions Ilford despatched, Graham Hainsby hitting a ton as we chased 234 in the latter game. Early June saw us proudly perched at the top of the League before the bubble burst in the wet at Fives and Heronians.
Poor form prevailed through mid Summer although an improved display against Old Brentwoods saw our opponents, requiring five from the last ball, sneak a victory with an incredible six! The spell without a win reached 13 games before Buckhurst Hill and Southend were despatched in September to steer us to 14th place in the table.
Our Second Eleven season was also a disappointment, and we had to wait until August for our first win.
The Third Eleven began well, also leading the League Table in the early days, but the strong availability of May and June was not maintained for long and results suffered. In contrast Jeff Runciman re-established our Extra Third Eleven by arranging Conference fixtures every week (and a fixture bureau bill of £150) and some impressive results were gained with our crop of youngsters and golden oldies performing creditably.
On Sundays our fortunes were reversed with the Sunday As not losing until July and a superb victory earned over Dartford and other notable ones against the likes of Cockfosters, Hertford and Welwyn Garden City. The Sunday Bs only lost two games with Jeff Runciman again in command with the skipper leading the way with some superb form with the bat.
We again ran a successful Cricket week – the only problem being the weather – too hot ! Highlight of the week saw us up against The Mayor’s XI for whom The Mayor, Frank Georges played for the first time and he left with the notable scalp of Malcolm Taitt to his credit.
We decided to tour Sussex for a change , however the opposition fielded by teams from the senior Sussex League was generally a disappointment. Nevertheless we still had a good time, none more so than at Lindfield. Secret insider knowledge had told us that the track was bouncy early on so we promoted Steve Wilson to “opener” and emerged from the pub at 2pm to enjoy a series of good length balls whistling past his earholes!
Fraser Lawrence made a number of appearances in the CCC Under 25 team whilst Peter Joslin and Richard Alston represented the CCC President’s XI.
1990 was the last year of the PLA Ground in Ilford for the 3rd XI with the owners unable to gain planning permission to develop the ground leaving it to overgrow, a situation which sadly persists to this day.